If you’re just starting in racing, and have never owned a kart before, the first thing I would do is not start with a shifter. If you want to learn how to be a good kart driver, two of the most important things to learn is to be consistent and smooth. That’s near impossible for a karting rookie who’s too busy trying to keep the rear end gripped and banging through the gears. A shifter is fast and attractive, but if you’re in the sport for the long-haul, I would urge you to consider 100cc or 4 cycle for your first kart.

I appreciate your advice Peter, but i am a seasoned driver, just never on a kart. I dont feel like that would be any sort of prolonged issue. With that being said can you point me in the right direction? The idea is to get into the motorsport so that my whole family can enjoy it, and not just sit around and watch.

Karting looks easy, but in reality it is very difficult to drive, it’s not the same as driving sports cars, or race cars, they do drive differently.

Driving a shifter kart is very difficult and very fatiguing , not to mention a very steep learning trial, with tuning, gearing, chassis handling, set up and tuning of the chassis alone, it’s way too much work, and you may not have enough time to help your family while you’re trying to figure out your own issues.

A 4 cycle LO206 might be your best choice, so that you can play with your kids, while you’re having fun.

But if you’re sold on shifter karts, then it will be cold turkey, and I say have at it.

There are many options here in this forom on the classifieds from racers that are looking to switch to new equipment, but the biggest factor is so that we can point you in the right direction is:

Find out your local track, club, and see what formula of engine package they run, so that you are legal. Most of us run the SKUSA Legal 01 CR125 Stock Honda package, but there are many other clubs running TM and other ICC engines for their 125cc shifter class.

And if this is the direction you wanna go, you can find many karts here available, I’m actually selling 2 almost brand new packages, my Son runs 125 shifter karts with SKUSA.

Let us know if you are interested, and we can make you a smoken deal. My PM is not working here for whatever reason, so if you want any other additional info you will have to email me at fastracerfreddy@aol.com

Your in Austin, so I would head over to Speedsportz Race Park to see it first hand and learn more. Another Houston area shop is 3G Kart Racing in Katy and the Gulf Coast Kartways track. Those are great places to start. Also, the Circuit of the Americas just opened up a rental kart track. Go check them all out.

I’m in San Antonio, and if you’re in Austin, there is Hill Country Kart Club in New Braunfels. It’s a little closer than the tracks that David mentioned, but those are great tracks as well. All the people at Hill Country Kart Club are great and willing to help. Our local kart shop is Texas Karts and is located in San Antonio.

For you, you can easily take the advice of those above. For your kids, your 5 year old would definitely be in a kid kart, and there isn’t too much to worry from there. For your 7 year old, your best bet is to get started with a cadet kart (assuming they’ll turn 8 next year). HCKC offers 2 main classes for cadets, both with a good turnout usually. There is Cadet 1, which is more for the beginner, you can run the LO206 or Micro Swift in that class. The other class is the Cadet 2, which will primarily run the Mini-Swift in that class. This is the class that my daughter races in.

Feel free to reach out to me if you have more questions about the track and club there.

The conventional wisdom is to say to shy away from the shifter but I have put a bunch of road race guys in to shifters and DD2 karts and they did fine. If you are a racer, you’ll make the transition fine. Take a look at the DD2 though – my guys have loved those. The guys at Dallas Kart Complex (or probably Houston Kart Complex too) have had arrive and drive DD2 karts in the past and they really know the product. Worth a call.